“When we were one or two years old we had what we might visualize as a 360-degree personality. Energy radiated out from all parts of our body and all parts of our psyche. A child running is a living globe of energy. We had a ball of energy, all right: but one day we noticed […]
I spend a lot of time in silent meditation during my sessions with people. Many sessions begin with a few minutes of shared silence. Other times, we might spend up to half the session in meditation. Sharing silence in this way creates a beautiful intimacy in the session, but as I am writing this morning […]
A tree gives glory to God first of all by being a tree. For in being what God means it to be, it is imitating an idea which is in God and which is not distinct from the essence of God, and therefore a tree imitates God by being a tree. The more it is […]
“The smallest sprout shows there is really no death, And if ever there was it led forward life, and does not wait at the end to arrest it, And ceas’d the moment life appear’d. All goes onward and outward, nothing collapses, And to die is different from what any one supposed, and luckier.” – Walt […]
Clearing Do not try to save the whole world or do anything grandiose. Instead, create a clearing in the dense forest of your life and wait there patiently, until the song that is your life falls into your own cupped hands and you recognize and greet it. Only then will you know how […]
Mindfulness Saved My Life (Again) It’s a few minutes before 10pm and all the parking spaces in front of my condo are taken. I drive around the block and park two blocks away. Getting out of the car, I dissolve into the quiet evening air. I smile at the stars above and begin walking home. […]
I spent a day with Lama Surya Das last month. He is sharing his new book, “Make Me One with Everything,” and I was impressed by his interest in teaching us “non-practices,” things we are already doing that can be considered practices. He is suggesting we practice mediation with nature, with people, with every opportunity […]
This year, I want to spend more time on what really brings me joy and on projects that are so exciting they terrify me. I’m going to “go for the jugular,” as Natalie Goldberg puts it in her coaching to writers, by pursuing ideas that are so terrifyingly good that I get a simultaneous “I […]
I learned Korean zen meditation in the winter of 1989. I was fascinated by zen, the zen mystique for sure, but also the fresh and powerful language used by the teachers of the zen tradition. There were many awesome things to contemplate, from the sound of one hand clapping to my “original face” before my […]
Winter has come to Chicago. With 20 inches of fresh snow blanketing the city, life has become a little stiller, a little more basic. I am heeding winter’s call to be still and rest, yet below the surface the vital activity that will surface in springtime is still present, if in the background. Some things […]